Sand toy



Apr. 3, 1923; v 1,450,375.

G. A. KEHL.

SAND TOY.

FILED DEC. I0. i921.

Patented pr. 3, 1923.

GEORGE A. KEHL, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

j SAND TOY.

Application filed December 10, 1921. Serial No. 521,354..

be actuated by a granular medium, such as sand, orv by rice, wheat and the like, an object of the invention, being the provision in a toy of this class, of feed adjustment means, whereby either of these mediums may be successfully employed without the necessity of, in any way, adjusting the parts which are animated by the falling medium.

Another object ofA the invention-is to provide, in a toy of they class described, a discharge chute which is normally pivotally suspended in equilibrium at a point just above its center of gravity, and in a manner to be thus held by the head of sand at the mouth of the sand container, a feature of the invention being the novel construction of the pivotal mounting of the chute, whereby a slight disturbance of the equilibrium of the latter, will cause the head of sand to fall out of symmetry relative to the chute body. f

Other objects of the invention will be pointed out throughout the specification, the invention consisting in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

'A In the accompanying drawings Figure 1, is a perspective view of a sand toy embodying my invention.

Figure'2, is a fragmentary side view of the sand container, the discharge chute and one bucket shown in their normal positions.y

Figure 3, is a perspective beam support.

ll3`igure 4, is a vertical sectionalview on line4-4 of Figure 2, partly broken away, and'drawn to a reduced scale.

Figure 5, is a vertical sectional view on line, 55 of Fig. 4.

Figure, is a fragmentary side view of the sand container showing the manner of connecting the uprights to the container.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary perspective viewof the tie piece connecting a lpair of legs, and

Figure 8, is a perspective view of one of the trip level@ Q11 the discharge chute.

The present invention is an improvement ywall thereof.

view of Vthev upon the sand toy which is the subject of `my application for Letters Patent now pending and filed May 2nd, 1921, Serial No. 465,973, patented August 15, 1922N'o. 1,425,865 and comprises a container 1, shaped like an `inverted hollow cone, the upper circular edge thereof beingv formed with an out-turned surrounding bead 2, and its conic wall being pressed outward at four Vequidli'st-ant points adjacent the-bead 2, to form sleeves 3, which latter radiate to the center of the container in parallelism withl the CQIflic Frictionally fitting 'each' lof said sleeves, and abutting endvvise against the bead 2, is the leg 4, the upperiend thereof being bent to the angularity-,of the container to render the shank 4 of all the legs parallel to a position apprOXIlately midway of their length. Below the parallel portions, the legs flare' outwardly, to aiford a greaterbase area to lend stability to, the toy.

The legs are connected vin pairs by the cross strap 5, at the base of the parallel legy portions, and is formed with an outstanding flat tongue 6 adapted to be ,projected` through the elongated eye Y, in the downturned lugs 8, at the respective outer-ends of the'bea'm support 9.

The support is formed of a flat strip of uniform width and isI bent downward midway between the lugs 8, to form a vertically j disposed guide way 10, 4of `parallel width, with flat inner walls, said wallsv being perforated with horizontally and oppositely disposed laterally alined slots 11, adapted to receive the' pivot pin 12, which latter ro:- tatably fits in the slots and is'bodily slidable therein. The pin extends through the center of the beam 13', and is securedtherein,

said beam fitting flatwise in the guide way 10, vto freely move therein when it is rocked upon its pivot. The beam is bowed upwardly symmetrically about the. pivot pin, and has horizontally disposed forks'14, pivotally carrying respectively the buckets 15. v

A vcord 16 restricts the swinging moyennant vof the respective buckets, in their `downniebla 'estafa-S1 the @tt-'stile 29e/by means of the stem 19 which entends rotatably transversely through and beyondlopposite walls of the container. At opposite ends said stem extends through horizontally alined arched openings 20, in the respective outwardly and iugwardly inclined side walls 21 of the discharge chute 22.

This discharge chute is formed with a straight smooth bottom 23, whichin connection with the sides 21, forms a trough suspended in equilibrium on he pin 19, the latter engaging tangentially the circula itpper edge 24- of the openings 20.

i Il have found the curvature of the edge 24, which is shown full size in Figure 2, to operate very efficiency as will hereinafter be explained.

Secured on the under side of the chute, and in eXact symmetry thereon, and extending longitudinally one on either side of the center thereof, are the tripping arms rPhe arms are preferably formed of wire, and have contact terminals 25 bent downwardly to match the angularity of the sides of the tapered buckets 15, as is best shown in Figure 2, wherein the bucket is shown in the position at which it initially contacts with the arm, as distinguished from the position shown in Figure 1, wherein the equilibrium of the chute has been disturbed, causing the latter to slide to one side, as by means of its arched edoe on the stem 19, as is also shown in dottedtlines in Figure 2. The contact terminals are formed of wire of relatively small diameter, and are crimped in a manner to produce a plurality of vertically disposed parallel rails 2G forming a miniature open work frame.

I have found that this type of structure, namely, vertical small round wires, offers a minimum resistance to the striking buckets, and facilitates upward sliding of the lattef over the knee 'a (Fig. 2) to the position shown in dotted lines. l have tried tin plate terminals, but found the frictional resistance too great to properly tilt the chute.

The journals of the stem 19 fit sufficiently tight, to hold the throttle valve 18 at any desired position to which it may be turned, a suitable handle for that purpose being shown.

Obviously, when the rice or wheat is placed in the container the throttle may be positioned as shown in Figure 5, thereby affording greater clearance for the kernels to pass. When sand is to be used, the throt tle may be set horizontally, thereby throttling the discharge opening and restricting the flow, to prevent the buckets from lillinfir too quickly. l

' Normally, the sand or other actuating medium, will accumulate in a symmetrical heap in the center of the chute, until it seals the discharge opening 17. As the sand is evenly distributed, the chute is held perf fectly balanced on the stem 19, as shown in Fig. 5.

ln operation, l have found when the loaded bucket descends and the empty bucket strikes with considerable force against the terminal 25. the beam 13 rebounds .more vor less thereby delaying the bucket in its journey to its ultimate position. To obviate this, l have mounted the beam pivot 12, in slotted holes 11, which permits the beam to slide laterally when the empty bucket hits the tripping arm. This is an important feature, inasmuch as the rebound of the bucket, permits the sand from the chute to fall outside the bucket.

As hereinbefore stated, the top of the legs frictionally engage the eyes 3, so that a fairly firm connection with the container is secured. The two pairs of legs are thus positioned and then sprung toward each other as indicated at the bottom of the legs by dotted lines in Figure 1. `When thus sprung, the beam support carrying the beamv is placed over the tie members 5, and the tongues- 6 projected through the openings 7, the stress of the spring in the legs, sufticmg to hold the structure assembled. This novel knockdown construction renders the toy commercially practical, as any ordinary person can assembley it, and a relatively small carton required, to contain it.

As shown in Figure 1, the cover of the box is used as a sand bin, and also assists in` holding the legs in normal position.

l claim:

1. lin a sand toy of the class described, the combination with the sand container, said container having an opening in the bottom thereof, of a. trough open at the ends disposed symmetrically directly beneath said opening and spaced therefrom, tripping arms carried by said trough, horizontally disposed oblong openings, one in each side wall of the trough midway between the ends thereof, said openings being on a level and aligned at right angles tothe trough, a pin supported by thc container and extending through said openings, each of said openings having an arched upper edge for the purpose set forth.

2. ln sand toy of the class described, the combination with the sand container, said container having an opening in the bottom thereof, of a trough vopen at the ends, dis# posed symmetrically directly beneath said openings, and spaced therefrom, downwardly and outwardly extending similar tripping arms carried by said trough, one for each end thereof, and a loose pivotal connection 1ncluding a pivot, between the 'trough and container for normally suspending said trough in horizontal position on the container, said connection including means whereby the pivot thereof is enabled to shift from its normal position.

' 3 ln a sand toy of the class described, the

combination with the sand container, said container having an opening in the bottom thereof, of a trough open at the ends, and having tripping arms,` said trough disposed symmetrically directly beneath said opening and spaced therefrom, a loose pivotal connection between the trough and container for normally suspending said trough in horizontal position and rendering the trough bodily swingable, and a throttle valve adjacently directly above said opening in the path of the sand in the container and means extending to the outside of the container for operating said throttle valve for the purpose set forth.

4. A sand toy comprising a frame, al container at the top of the frame having an opening in the bottom thereof, a trough open at the ends and having tripping arms, said trough pivotally suspended symmetrically directly beneath said opening and swingable in a vertical plane, a beam having pivotal support midway ofits ends on the frame to render it swingable upwardly, and buckets pivotally carried at the respective ends of said beam, and adapted to engage respectively said tripping arms to tilt said trough when said beam is actuated, said pivotal support for said beam including a pivot pin mounted to slide horizontally in the frame.

5. A sand toy comprising a frame, a sand container having an opening in the bottom thereof positioned at the top of the frame, a chute open at its ends suspended symmetrically in a horizontal position on said container directly beneath said opening and spaced therefrom, said chute carrying tripping arms, a beam, buckets pivotally carried one at each end of the beam, and a slidable pivotal support for said beam midway of the ends thereof whereby, when said beam is actuated to cause the buckets to strike against said tripping arms to tilt said trough, said slidable pivotal connection will yield laterally to permit said beam to bodily move, for the purpose set forth.

6. In a sand toy structure for a sand toy having a frame, a container with an opening in its bottom, at the top of the frame, chute mechanism swingingly suspended beneath said opening and having tripping arms, and sand conveying devices, including buckets swingable alternately into engagement with said tripping arms to actuate saidy chute mechanism and thereby load the respective buckets said structure comprising sleeves on the outside of said container, two long wire legs, each leg formed of two leg members joined by a cross tie, with a proj ecting tongue intermediate its ends, each leg frictionally projectable into said sleeves so as to stand parallel relative to each other, and apertures in a part of said conveying devices to receive said tongues under stress of the spring in said wire legs as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

GEORGE A. KEI-IL. 

